By TARA JENNINGSLedger Staff Writertara@gaffneyledger.com

Authorities are looking for two people today after one man was fatally shot and another wounded in what police said was a drug deal gone bad.

One suspect has been apprehended.

The Cherokee County Coroner’s Office is waiting to release the name of the North Carolina man who was fatally shot until his family has been notified. He died at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center after being airlifted by Regional One. An autopsy is planned for today.

Detective Tim Clark of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office has arrested and charged Lindon Merrill Bailey, 18, of 421 Sarratt Ave., Gaffney, with murder. He is at the Cherokee County Detention Center awaiting a bond hearing.

Police have also charged Joseph E. Smith, of 430 Sarratt Road, Gaffney, with murder but he has not yet been apprehended, said Cherokee County Sheriff Bill Blanton. Detectives are also searching for Jamie Peterson, whose last known address was 116-A Kraft St., Gaffney.

The two victims were in a vehicle together at 1:30 a.m. on Vaughn Road near Luther Vaughan School when a second vehicle pulled beside their car and shots were fired, police said.

The victims left the scene and drove to the Gaffney Inn where they called 9-1-1. The suspect’s vehicle also left the scene. A sheriff’s deputy stopped the vehicle on Bonner Lake Road but all three suspects fled on foot. Bailey was apprehended at the car, but the other two men escaped, Blanton said.

The sheriff said detectives believe it was an attempted drug deal after speaking with witnesses. Detectives are continuing interviews today. Neither drugs nor a weapon have been found.

The second shooting victim, 32year-old Michael Dale Bowen of Earl, N.C., has been admitted to Upstate Carolina Medical Center with a gunshot wound, police said.